How Do You Use an iPad if You Don't Have Wi-Fi?

by Michael Franco, Demand Media

Use your iPad on business flights to get some work done or meet your seat mate.

Sandra Mu/Getty Images News/Getty Images

An Internet-connected iPad is a powerful tool for your business. It lets you communicate via email, video conference and send messages with clients and colleagues all over the globe. However, there are times where you won't have access to a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. In those cases, it is still possible to be surprisingly productive with your iPad even though Internet access and communications tools are disabled. If you know you are going to need to work on your iPad without Internet access, spend some time beforehand shopping the iTunes store to find apps — many of them free — that allow you to stay productive until you can reconnect.

Step 1

Read books, industry news or other content you’ve already downloaded like manuals or annual reports. Simply launch a reading app such as Kindle, iBooks or Instapaper and navigate to the content you’d like to read. You won’t be able to download new content or read online newspapers or magazines, but anything you’ve already saved will be available.

Step 2

View your calendar by tapping the “Calendar” icon to look over your schedule. Note that without an Internet connection, the calendar will not be able to sync with appointments on your phone or home computer, but if you synced the iPad before disconnecting from the Internet, everything should still be up to date. Likewise, any changes you make to your calendar on the iPad will not reflect on other devices until you reconnect to an Internet signal.

Retrieve contact information by tapping “Contacts.” Even if you sync your contacts across multiple devices, your iPad will still allow you to access all your contacts, even if you’re not connected to the Internet.

Step 4

Catch up with your favorite business audio podcasts by tapping “Music,” “More” and then choosing the podcast you’d like to enjoy. Downloaded video podcasts are located in the "Videos" app. You must have already downloaded your podcast and have it stored on the iPad to listen or watch without Internet access.

Step 5

Take notes, create presentations, tweak spreadsheets, write memos or work on documents that you’ve downloaded by launching an app that allows such functionality. Apple’s Pages allows you to create documents, brochures and graphics-rich presentations in an intuitive and easy manner. The Notes app that comes loaded on the iPad provides a quick and easy way to jot down short ideas. The free Haiku Deck app enables you to put together visually striking slide shows, and GoodReader makes it easy to read and annotate PDFs and other documents while on the go.

Step 6

Relax. Everyone needs time to disconnect — and what better time than when you’re out of range of an Internet signal? You can use your iPad to watch movies and listen to music you’ve already downloaded by tapping “Videos” or “Music,” or you can decompress with a round of Angry Birds or any other game you’ve installed on the iPad. While functionality like online competitions or scorekeeping via Facebook or programs like OpenFeint is disabled, you’ll still be able to get in hours of stress-busting bird flinging, zombie smashing or fruit slicing.

About the Author

Michael Franco has been writing professionally since 1990. Having lived in both Singapore and Prague, he now works as a writer and editor in Asheville, N.C. Franco's work has appeared in publications such as "Discovery Channel Magazine" and "Islands," as well on various websites. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and an a Master of Arts in creative writing.

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